Brussels

Brussels is one of Europe’s great architecture cities, although its beauty has never depended on consistency. Ornate guild houses and grand 19th-century boulevards coexist with Art Nouveau masterpieces, Art Deco apartments, post-war Modernism and the monumental architecture of the European institutions. Victor Horta helped revolutionise architecture here, while Henry van de Velde and later generations pushed Belgian design in radically different directions. The result can be elegant, eccentric and occasionally chaotic—exactly what makes neighbourhoods such as Saint-Gilles, Ixelles and the Marolles so rewarding to explore.

Food and drink are equally embedded in the city’s identity. Traditional brasseries, friteries and old cafés remain essential, but Brussels has developed a remarkably inventive contemporary restaurant scene, with chefs drawing on Belgian produce and the city’s extraordinarily international population. Natural wine bars, specialty coffee and small neighbourhood restaurants thrive alongside grand seafood institutions. Belgian beer provides a world of its own, from lambic and gueuze produced around Brussels to tiny specialist bars where the list can be considerably longer than the menu. Chocolate deserves its reputation too, particularly in the hands of the city’s more adventurous independent makers.

Brussels’ most interesting hotels make full use of its architectural eccentricity. Art Nouveau townhouses, Art Deco buildings, former offices and historic residences are being transformed into intimate places to stay, often mixing vintage Belgian furniture, contemporary art and unexpectedly bold interiors. At DNA Hotels, we curate the places where architecture, food, art and Brussels’ unconventional character come together—hotels that capture a city whose greatest design strength may be that it has never tried too hard to make everything match.